Has anyone ever used one of these before ? I've been waiting for injections to get approved thru workers comp. and 5 months later still waiting. I figured I would give this a try although I didnt have much luck with it during previous physical therapies. My c5/c6 is herniated with indentaion, Dr. says doesnt look so bad on mri, but it feels bad to me. From between my shoulder blades to across my shoulder blades into the neck w/ some pain into left arm & hand. I will prolly wait & talk to the spine dr. in a week. I tried to use the traction unit & used it caefully for about 10 minutes. I was uncomfortable at the time , but no pain while lying in traction. It was the reaction I had about 30 mins. later where my neck/shoulders/arms were twitching . It was so bad I couldnt control it, I dont know if they were spasms or what, but my upper torsoe was so herky jerky my arms wouldnt stay still. I couldnt hold a cup of water without spilling it, and I couldnt control my hand grip pressure around the cup. This was an all day & night event. What a pain ! Feel better this morning . Anyone ever experience this before ? Curious to know, thx.

SKZ

02-10-2007 02:29 PM

Re: Probs after using cervical home traction unit

I have used alot of traction, but I didnt have herniations, just degeneration, arthritis and spurs. I never had the reaction you had. That is DEFINITELY a red flag. I wouldnt do it anymore till you get some professional advice, whatever you do. It sounds to me, like you are doing it with too much weight and too long. All you need is a gentle stretch, if the Dr. cleared you. How many lbs. were you doing? (for the 10 mins.). What traction unit do you have?

avglenn

02-11-2007 10:35 AM

Re: Probs after using cervical home traction unit

Thx for responding SKZ. The traction unit is a Saunders cervical Hometrac deluxe. It seems like a new unit. I have not got any instructions from the Dr. of yet. I've been on other ones before at P/T not really liking them, but desparate times here. I tried to get the same perssure...not too much. I pumped in 3lbs of traction only, but the scale goes to 50lbs. What really bothers me, are things I use to do , like screwiing in a few drywall screws to hang a picture in the house and my neck, arms would go thru these spasms. Therefore I have to be very careful in what I do, which is next to nothing anymore. Only thing I've been told is , " you have alot going on " since I have low back probs where Im looking at a 2 level fusion . To me, my neck is jacked up somehow , where they're not seeing the root cause. I think Im done with the traction unit, my girlfriend said my facial color was yellow/ green the whole day. I felt like going into ER, but instead took all the meds I had available to me. One thing is, this Sanders unit is very nice & smooth and if traction helps people, this home unit is pretty slick. Just not for me I guess.

SKZ

02-11-2007 11:57 AM

Re: Probs after using cervical home traction unit

I have the same traction unit. I also have another one because the lady who used to do "rolfing" (a type of muscle massage) told me the Saunders wasnt too good because it puts your head in a bit of a forward position when lying on it. (aka flexion). Well then I got all paranoid and ordered another one where I lied flat. That one was called "Pronex". Personally, I liked that one better. It was cheaper and less fancy. You had to pump the air with a small squeeze rubber type thing. It also doesnt tell you how many lbs. you are using. But for some reason, the lying flat was better for me. My personal opinion on traction is this: you really need a person to guide you thru the home use. Everyone is so different. One time a P.T. put me on too many lbs. and I was crippled from it. That really made me mad. :mad: When i was using it, I would do about 10 mins. once a day, and started off real slow with the lbs. I ended up at about 11-12 lbs. max. But you started off really slowly, and it still hurt you alot. That tells me, you might be harming yourself. You need someone to tell you exactly what to do with it, because I would hate to see you make things worse. That neck is such a fragile thing.